Singapore’s First Public CNG Station to be Ready by Jan 2008; 4 More Planned

12 July 2007

Channel NewsAsia. Singapore’s first publicly-accessible CNG refuelling station is expected to start running by next January.

Smart Automobile, which also runs Singapore’s first and largest fleet of CNG taxis, will build and operate the station. Smart Automobile has obtained a 30-year lease to build the station, which will serve all CNG-fueled vehicles here. The company hopes to have four more stations by 2011, including one in Serangoon North to be up and running by next September.

Johnny Harjantho, Managing Director of Smart Automobile, said: “We project that by the time the five CNG stations are up, there will be about 3,000 to 4,000 CNG taxis of our own, and from the public side—commercial and private cars—we estimate that there are going to be about 10,000 cars available on the road.”

“If you ask me: is that number exaggerated? I think it is not. It’s a chicken and egg situation. If you build more stations, then we believe more people will convert their cars, or buy the OEM CNG cars in Singapore.”

Currently Smart Automobile has about 110 CNG taxis representing 10-15% of its entire fleet. Going forward, it plans to change all of its taxis to run on CNG.